The MAJOR algorithm change to Instagram you need to know about!

Since Facebook bought Instagram for $1 Billion in 2012, there were a lot of raised eyebrows by marketers around the globe. Why would Mr Zuckerberg pay such a price for what was at the time, an extremely successful social media start up? Over the years it’s been slowly revealed why...

It’s no secret that Facebook clearly wanted to demolish Snapchat in their pursuit to dominate instant video content. They did this practically overnight by introducing a ‘Stories’ feature to Instagram. On a daily basis, this feature has over 40 million more users than Snapchat has in total. Instagram is currently boasting over 500 million users, with more than 95 million posts per day. Quite frankly, if your business isn’t utilising this insanely popular platform by now, you’re potentially making a huge marketing mistake.

Have you noticed how when you open Instagram, you’re now seeing posts from 3, 4 or even 5 days ago? This is due to the new algorithm change which has been drip-fed to users over the past week or so.

The only people who fully know the exact details behind the algorithm are the tech-wizards at Instagram HQ. On the other hand, it’s pretty easy to read into the top level stuff. In short, new posts from people who you normally interact with (like and comment) will show up at the top of your home feed, along with other pictures from your followers which have reached high engagement levels over the past 2-5 days.

A disgruntled user even went as far as saying “It’s dumb, it’s completely wrong and it’s counterproductive”. It seems a lot of users are frustrated at the lack of completely fresh content at the top of their timeline - one of the reasons why they fell in love with the platform in the first place. Being positive people here at Digital Boss, we’ve put together this guide to help you take advantage of the new algorithm change, with the aim of increasing engagement and driving more users to follow you:

Create better content

Yep, that’s right. Complacency can be a killer in all walks of life and it’s no different on social media. Perhaps it’s time you upped your game. Invest in a professional editing tool, utilise the live and stories features. Play around with the Boomerang and Rewind features too. Above all, you need to feel proud of the content you’re posting.

Think timing

Be aware of when your audience engages with your images the most. Why post something at 10:52 if most of your followers are at work? Perhaps start by posting around lunch time and then in the evening too. Split test and see what works best. Recently I carried out a short study on my personal platform like this. I found that the images I was posting in the evening between 21:00 – 23:00 were being picked up by the algorithm and shown to my followers in the morning too.

Strategy and consistency

Having a structured strategy and creating a consistent theme will massively help because your audience will sub-consciously ‘look out’ for your content without even realising it. This might be the way in which you crop your photos or even the filter you apply. Decide when you’re going to post throughout the week and try your best to stick to it. However, don’t upload a picture just because you’ve decided ‘you have to’. Make sure it’s always quality over quantity.

Post notifications

Lastly, if you’ve already got a decent following on Instagram, make your audience aware of how to turn on notifications for your posts. That way they’ll always be aware of when you’re active. To do this, your followers will need to head over to your profile, then at the top right of your screen there is a three-dot icon. Direct them to hit that, and then press ‘Turn on post notifications'.